Hansel and Gretel (1954)

October 11, 1954

The Screen in Review; At Broadway: Puppets in 'Hansel and Gretel'

By BOSLEY CROWTHER

Published: October 11, 1954

HUMPERDINCK'S "Hansel and Gretel" is a children's opera that is frequently performed with musical care and distinction on the operatic stage, so Michael Myerberg was inviting stern comparisons when he chose to do it in a film. Furthermore, he was challenging tradition and the pitfalls of uncertain artistry when he chose to do it with animated puppets of a sort never used before—little plastic-skinned, trimly costumed figures, operated by electricity. He calls these little figures "kinemins," and they constitute his "cast."

But his daring has admirably paid off in the film, which opened yesterday afternoon at the Broadway Theatre for what should deservedly be an extended run. For the work is a charming entertainment in both the musical and the novelty line.

As a novelty, first, the puppet method of telling the famous fairy tale of the two little children of the poor broommaker who get lost on a trip into the woods and run afoul of an old witch is both deft and appropriate. Mr. Myerberg's little figures, designed by James Summers and worked by a retinue of technicians, are amusing and flexible dolls which have surprisingly vivid and real personalities.

It would be utterly wrong to term them "lifelike." That is precisely what they are not. They are "doll-like," and their charm and seduction are in the shaping through them of a doll-world. With very good color photography and against cunning cut-out sets, this picture has the quality of a truly visualized fairy tale. The very aspect of delicate fabrication complements the creation of make-believe.

In the simplicity of the performance and the presentation of the music, too, Mr. Myerberg's ambitious production merits appreciative praise. While there may be an unpleasant twanginess in Hansel's synchronized voice, which is done by Constance Brigham, who does Gretel's pleasing voice, too, there is general attractiveness and richness in the speaking and singing voices. And the music, under Franz Allers' direction, has real operatic class.

Anna Russell's synchronization of the cackling contralto of the witch is both humorous and melodious, tricked-up but adequately restrained. And Frank Rogier makes the voice of the father a full and affecting baritone. Delbert Anderson's singing for the sandman, who is a darling little night-shirted doll, is most agreeably soothing, and the Apollo Boys Choir sings the famous lullaby "Angels overhead will keep watch around you while you sleep"—for a lovely climax to the nighttime scene.

We would also like to mention that the witch's candy-house, which lives in the mind of this reviewer as one of his most dazzling childhood images, is represented in this picture in all of its recollected lusciousness.

"Hansel and Gretel" is a fine film for children, but it should delight fanciful grown-ups, too.